one question before we get accused of glitching. We have rowed a line of tents around a house. Its like a little castle made of tents. You cant get in from outside. Theres always a player inside or logged out there which have to pack one tent in order to let somebody in. Is our little safe tentbase allowed or not?

Yes it is, but, the server pop goes down towards the end of the patch. So the server will be full only at peak hours as opposed to being full all the time. Donating is always relevant I guess, everything helps, even tiny amounts. Areas of trade: no. Unless you set up a trade with someone, except Polana once a month. Then Polana is a no kill area where everyone can trade.

Hot spots: The north area is pretty much pvp land. So the area from Rogovo up to Bashnya and from Lopatino, Vybor, Kab, and the sobors. You can still have no shooty shooty encounters in those areas but keep in mind that a lot of squads roam these areas for pvp.